I don't know about you,
but the past two weeks have felt to me like sailing on a choppy sea. In my own body, I’ve been asked to ride the ups and downs of emotions that inevitably come with the launch of a new project, initiative or organization (all of which I am personally doing now).
Yet I’m aware that I am also deeply impacted by the emotional tides of the collective. Full and waning moon energy. Losses of loved ones and grief experienced by clients and dear friends. Shaking foundations of once stable business models, financial models and structures.
When I feel this way, I’ve learned not to take it a hundred percent personally. It’s me. Of course it is. I change with the current. Sometimes I cannot help myself – even when nothing particular is going on in my own life (which of course it usually is!) Or, I brace myself against it – clinging for dear life to certainty. To coherency. To safety. But it’s hard work that doesn't always pay off. How can I resist the ocean?
How can anyone?
The truth is, we don’t live in stable times. And thank goodness for that. When I feel the urge to resist, I remind myself that I ALSO believe that our society is due for some serious upgrades. It’s what I (and most of my clients) spend most of our time thinking about –
How can we make this better?
How can we run our businesses and create products that meet the emerging needs of humanity while causing less destruction to (and even make better) the planet upon which we live?
How can we pace ourselves in the development of technology and AI such that we become true partners in the betterment of society at large?
How can we build and upgrade financial systems that help to rebalance the global imbalance of wealth, and create policies that serve both the currently rich and the currently poor?
But calling for an upgrade inherently requires the capacity to let go of the old. It SOUNDS like a good idea to paint a vision for organizational or political change. But in the thick of it… as you’re REALLY making headway… it feels like chaos. It IS chaos.
Creative destruction operates in service of new creation.
I wanted to share this with you today in case you needed to hear it. In the Guts & Grace community we practice being honest about the waves we are currently riding, so that we can GET BETTER at riding them – learn to surf – rather than be taken under or burn ourselves out in resistance.
It sounds spiritual, and in some ways it is. In their simplest and purest original forms, every world religion is designed to help us learn this. But it’s actually quite practical work. In a boots-on-the-ground kind of way, we can opt-into daily and moment-to-moment practices that enable us not just to survive but to make good use of the currents that move through our lives. With courage. With wisdom. And with grace.
I believe THAT’s what makes great leadership.
This past weekend I had the honor and privilege of being a part of an interfaith gathering that moved me deeply. It was my third time attending this annual event, but the first time it was held since the re-ignition of the conflict in Israel and Palestine last fall.
At this event, Jews and Muslims prayed together, sang together, discussed their wounds sincerely and found common ground. As neither of these faiths are my own birth, I sat in circle as a space holder, bringing patience, presence and curiosity. We studied the teachings of the Prophets Abraham and Mohamed, peace be upon them, and other great teachers in these lines. We opened our minds to let in the similar themes that unite us as humans… and detect the differences that make us key-holders for one anothers’ spiritual growth and awakening.
One of my deepest takeaways from this gathering is that artistry is required in the practice of being at peace.
When elevate the goal of peace – not in a spiritually by-passy way, but in our practical everyday actions – we are asked to face the violence of our own triggers, the necessity of healing our trauma, and the power of both patience and listening.
This work requires a profound toolbox that a few are born with… but can also be learned. And these tools – while often excruciating to practice at the sites of our religious and political tensions – are the very same tools, when embodied, that enable us to ride the currents of chaos and change in any situation, back in our everyday lives.
To live well and to lead well, I chose to make it my priority to develop these skills. If something in this piece resonates, I invite you to do the same.
As we move into the coming week of US presidential elections, I suspect that we will all (myself included) have the opportunity – perhaps the necessity – to practice fiercely.
If you feel so called, this week I invite you to:
- Breathe
- Feel your feelings
- Pause sometimes
- Listen generously
- Both stand and surrender your ground
- Take a break when you need it
And meditate on the energetic of peace. While sitting, walking, dancing, and conversing, use the sensations in your own body to study the vibration of peace. To learn, through practice, to be it.
As a heads up, we will be opening the doors to our next cohort of Guts & Grace this week (as planned, around the same time every year).
While we considered postponing the opening of this course to a later date, I decided instead to opt in.
I am choosing to stand for peace and our much-needed societal upgrade in this way. I am declaring that the invitations we will soon be sharing are, in fact, right on time – part of a sincere invitation to co-create peace through embodied, grounded, centered feminine leadership at this moment on Earth.
Stay tuned. Practice well.
And take good care,
LeeAnn
